


Tony Stark's Dilemma

by ThisGorlie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Drinking, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, High School, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drinking, i love the enemies to lovers trope, steve and tony hate each other at first, tony and natasha and clint and bruce are besties ok, tony is spoiled
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24395872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisGorlie/pseuds/ThisGorlie
Summary: Tony is a senior at Shield High. Everything in his life is where he wants it to be - his relationship with his parents, his friends, and his social standing in high school. It’s almost surreal to him. Though, things immediately change when he accidentally streaks his principals house on a dare. His troublesome antics catch up to him and he’s forced to volunteer for a construction project that is to last for the rest of the year. There, he is made to work with Shield star pupil Steve Rogers. Only problem is, they can’t stand the sight of each other.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	1. Detention; It's Not Happening

“This is disgusting, Clint.”

Natasha “Nat” Romanov was never one to be easily impressed. Her absolute disgust was very much evident on her face, her red lips twisted into a frown and eyebrows drawn together. 

Next to the desk she was seated in, her friend, Clint Barton, had his book bag open. Clumsily stuffed inside of it was a bag full of homemade mint chip cookies, the concoctions a disorienting mix of brown and green with flecks of black from how burnt they were.

“Okay, so they look kind of bad, but that was because of the green food coloring. It only makes sense since it’s mint flavored.”

“Yeah, and they’re burnt to no return.”

Natasha shifted her position, facing the front of the classroom to pay attention to the teacher’s droll and boring lecture about Cavalieri’s Quadrature Formula.

“Clearly Home Ec isn’t doing you any favors,” Another kid, Bruce Banner, spoke up. He sat to the left of Natasha, keeping his voice low enough, only for the other two to hear. 

“Bruce, you too? You haven’t even seen them yet,” Clint rolled his eyes, “Hey, I’ll make sure you guys try some after–”

“Late again, Stark?”

The teacher’s aggravated voice caused Clint to quiet down. The entire class’ focus shifted to the student at the classroom entrance. He sported messy pitch-black hair, large brown eyes with prominent dark circles, and a wardrobe that looked like it was put together in the dark. His backpack was clumsily attached to his side, papers begging to fall out of its partially unzipped condition. He was slightly crouched over, his cheeks somewhat flushed, probably from running so fast to reach the classroom. 

“No excuses this time?” 

“Miss, I’m trying to catch my breath.”

That elicited a few giggles among the class.

The teacher rolled her eyes at Tony Stark’s fake, saccharine tone. She motioned for him to take a seat.

“I’ll see you after class, by the way,” She said monotonously, clearly more than used to this whole type of situation at this point. Tony just grunted in affirmation.

“You look like shit,” Clint said, as soon as Tony took the seat behind him.

“Thanks. I was adding the finishing touches to the repulsor and the whole thing went on a little bit longer than I wanted it to. I would’ve pulled an all-nighter if I didn’t pass out on my ass and wake up five minutes before this class started.”

Natasha snickered at the snide attitude that matched Tony’s annoyed expression. 

“I don’t think that’s healthy,” Bruce shrugged. 

“I won’t make a habit of it, only cause you worry about me Bruciebear.”

“Just don’t injure yourself again on another one of your projects,” Bruce plainly said, eyeing his textbook. Tony often took his engineering escapades or projects rather seriously to a point where he nearly sliced his finger open with a heavy duty saw from not sleeping for a whole two days.

“What page are we on?” Tony asked, poking Clint on the back.

“We’re–”

“Tony, can you not go one day without interrupting my class?”

“I was asking what page we were on!”

“Maybe you wouldn’t need to ask if you’d make it a habit to come on time. Plus, I’d much rather prefer if you asked me.”

“What’s the difference?”

\------

Tony once more flipped both of his pink detention slips before shoving them into his pocket.

The first one was for his persistent tardiness to school and the second was for his "conduct" in class. Apparently his “attitude towards the teacher” was what earned him that one, whatever that meant. He was just asking an honest question, wasn’t he?

“Ms. Garrett is out to get me. It’s all some part of her calculated scheme to get me kicked out of this school,” The moment their second period class ended, Tony began his tirade, “Notice how it’s five detentions before you get a referral and once you get three referrals in one semester, you get expelled. These two slips add up to my fourth detention after getting two referrals. She’s counting down my days here as we speak...”

“Get ready guys, Tony’s about to put on his tinfoil hat,” Natasha said, walking alongside Bruce. The two made sure to keep up with Clint and Tony’s rapid footsteps. The crowds within the school hallways were ever so congested, making it a headache to navigate through. Students either loitered around, catching up with their friends in between classes, some would fetch extra supplies from their lockers for their next class, and others like Tony and his three best friends were starting their lunch period.

“I’m just saying, Nat. She punishes me for the dumbest things,” Tony replied, “Clint could talk up a storm in that class and she wouldn’t say anything, I utter a single word and she goes all Defcon 1 on me.”

“Hmm, you do make a point,” Clint uttered, he skipped ahead of the other three, “Come on guys, we have 30 minutes till lunch ends.”

\------

“I swear to god I’m going to hurl those across the field if you shove them in my face again,” Natasha said, roughly pushing Clint’s bag of cookies away.

“I’ll try them,” Tony said, making a beckoning gesture with his hand for Clint to hand the bag towards him.

While Tony was reaching in to grab a cookie that wasn’t burned beyond repair, Natasha was rummaging through her backpack. Clint would cautiously peek out through the bleachers, making sure there weren’t any teachers in the near vicinity of the field.

The four had found a relatively hidden location behind the bleachers of the football field. This was where they would sometimes congregate and do...whatever recreational activities that weren’t so school friendly, such as...

“Found it,” Natasha said, pulling out a bag of pre-rolls that were mixed in with a couple of golf ball sized cannabis clumps. They were a darker green hue than the cheaper alternatives. Beside Natasha, Tony spat out a large glob of mint chip cookie in disgust. 

“Guys, make sure not to blow it in my direction!” Bruce called out to them, keeping a far enough distance from the other three.

“Got it,” Natasha replied, in a knowing voice. Bruce wasn’t so keen on smelling like weed for the remainder of the day. His parents would easily pick up on it and he’d be in huge trouble. 

“Wow, Quill really outdid himself this time, huh?” Clint said, eyeing the dried, high quality cannabis between his thumb and index fingers.

“Yeah, even managed to roll a few for me,” Natasha winked. She handed one of the joints to Tony before doing the same to Clint. 

She pulled out a lighter from her pocket and lit her own joint first before proceeding to light up Tony’s and Clint’s.

“Cheers,” Tony said, extending his own blunt towards Clint’s and Natasha’s whose were also extended. 

Apart from his detention mishaps at school, Tony loved his life. 

He really did.

He came from a well to do family and had a good enough relationship with his parents. His father was a little impatient with his troublesome antics at school, but he let him off easy. It helped that his job kept him out of the house and often out of the country, so he didn’t have enough time to pay much attention to Tony’s little school infractions such as “showing attitude to the teacher”. His mother just full on spoiled him. That was the consequence of being a rich only child.

Plus, he had his three best friends alongside him. Ever since they met in the sixth grade, Tony, Clint, Natasha, and Bruce were inseparable. They had distinct, sometimes clashing personalities, but they somehow made it work. They were always there for each other whenever each of them went through something such as Tony losing his former butler and family friend, Jarvis; Clint losing his mother; Bruce and his heartbreak with Betty Ross; and Natasha being separated from her two sisters due to her parents’ very messy divorce.

Tony loved these idiots with all his heart.

\------

Tony, Natasha, and Clint were lying beside each other on the grass, staring at nothing in particular. The talkative trio retreated into a peaceful silence, the chirping of the birds being the only occasional source of noise. A thin plume of smoke remained above them even after they finished.

Scattered footsteps and several voices broke Clint out of his stupor.

“Holy smokes. Has P.E already started?” Clint said, shooting upwards from his laying position and peeking outside from the corner of the bleachers. 

Tony sat up as well while Natasha remained lying on the ground, her hand now blocking her face. Bruce was at a far corner, meticulously writing down notes from his calculus textbook. He wrinkled his nose at the foul weed stench, hoping to god he didn’t smell like it. 

Tony crawled over to Clint, slightly pushing him aside for a better view. 

He partially shielded his eyes from the harsh afternoon sun, seeing a group of three students. Fortunately, there weren’t any teachers in sight so it was just them. He pursed his lips to the side, his eyes unmoving. All of them were very familiar faces. Like him, they were seniors – Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, and Steve Rogers.

They were the star students, always coming to class obnoxiously early, sucking up to the teachers, and seen as model pupils of the senior class. They always acted as if they were one step ahead or even superior to the more rebellious students like Tony, Clint, and Natasha. They participated in many school clubs, played sports, had decent enough grades, and were just all-round liked by everybody. If Tony counted, Sam Wilson probably had more than six extracurriculars racked up on his school resume, just for this year alone.

“Fuck, I can’t stand those asshats.”

“Asshats that are eye candy, Clint. I’d let the blonde one have his way with me if I could.”

Clint groaned, letting out a disgusted grimace. His friend always had to make passes at any walking specimen he deemed attractive. If not, he’d make some lewd comment having to do with how attractive they were.

“Gross. You have horrible taste, Tony.”

“Ah, maybe it’s cause you’re not attracted to men.” 

“Well I don’t need to be. I just know those types are overrated.”

From below, Tony could see their footsteps shake the Bleachers as the three other boys stepped up on them. That’s when he emerged out of the corner, stumbling on his footsteps after Clint playfully extended his foot. Steve, Bucky, and Sam were animatedly talking amongst each other as they took their seats.

Tony did an obnoxious wolf whistle, the weed in his system knocking out all inhibition. That immediately caught their attention.

“Shirts looking a little tight there, Rogers.”

Tony could hear Clint snicker not too far from him. Bruce and Natasha were probably rolling their eyes beyond annoyance right now. Tony couldn’t help himself; he liked rousing up the guy. It was refreshing to see that seemingly perfect streak slip up a bit.

Steve, the blonde Tony had made a not-so-appropriate statement about a minute ago, had his full attention on him. A frown was etched onto his features. As predicted, he wasn’t amused. Tony could have sworn Steve’s frown would become permanent if he held onto it any longer.

“Getting high behind the bleachers again, Stark?”

“Well, shit,” Tony sniffed himself, “You have super soldier senses or something, Captain America? I didn’t know you could smell me from all the way here.”

Steve’s jaw only twitched before he looked away from Tony and focused his attention on his friends again. He didn’t want to fall for the bait, not again. 

“Have a nice day, Cap,” Tony said, “If you’re looking for a date to the winter formal, hit me up!”

When Steve gave him one more glance to possibly tell him to buzz off, the dark-haired boy gave him a wink before heading back to his friends.

\------

Bucky Barnes did a quick glance of the field with his eyes, double checking to see if Tony and his friends had left to the locker rooms inside the school building to change into their P.E uniforms.

“All that money and no class,” The brunette said.

“Can we not talk about him?” Steve said, a sudden bout of annoyance in his voice.

“He’s just a kid depraved of attention; you shouldn’t let him get under your skin. He’ll move onto someone else to annoy if you ignore him.”

“What do you think he’s been doing for the past week and a half?” Sam spoke up.

“I meant giving him the complete silent treatment,” Bucky retorted.

“Buck–”

“Am I wrong?”

“No, no you’re not,” Steve replied in a haste fashion, wanting Bucky to quash down the topic of Tony Stark or anything having to do with Tony Stark, “I’m just trying to keep my sanity intact before we graduate.”

“…By not talking about he who must not be named, got it,” Bucky said, earning an amused chuckle from Sam.

If it wasn’t clear by now, Steve Rogers had a low opinion of Tony. He thought the kid was obnoxious, loud, entitled, and even arrogant at times. Being the son of a businessman and scientist with a multimillion-dollar net worth clearly did him no favors in that regard. People like him thought they were gods gift to the world because they were raised to believe so. People like Tony did not care about the consequences of their troublesome antics because their parents would scoff them off and everything for them would go back to normal. Steve was _very_ adamant on that opinion of his.

On the other hand, people like Tony Stark thought Steve’s do-gooder nature…contravened with his more nefarious behaviors. They would clash with each other with their limited interactions and Tony, being his wisecracking self, _always_ knew how to rile him up.

\-----

_[3:58 P.M] ALegOLas: tony, you absolute nut_

_[3:58 P.M] Tony: ill be the one to suffer the consequences if it all goes to shit alright??_

_[3:59 P.M] ALegOLas: just wait until next week_

_[3:59 P.M] Tony: my parents will be home sunday night, business trips don’t last forever_

_[4:01 P.M] Bruciebear: You guys are such bad influences on me. I should stop hanging with you lot._

_[4:02 P.M] Black Widow: I’m going to pretend you didn’t include me_

_[4:02 P.M] Bruciebear: I don’t. You’re cool._

_[4:02 P.M] Tony: ouch,, you dont really mean that, do u bruciebear :’(((_

_[4:03 P.M] Black Widow: so am I carpooling you idiots or are you driving yourselves to Tony’s?_

_[4:03 P.M] Tony: here we go…_

Tony grinned to himself, getting ready for the inevitable discussion on who would be the one to drive the others to his lavish house on the night of a party he was going to throw.

Tony was well-renowned for the grandiose parties he would throw for the school when his parents weren’t home. It just so happened that his "detention" spanned the length of two detentions - two slips and all - and fell on the same day both of them were out of the house. Maybe he could make an excuse that he forgot about it. He could get his dad to vouch for him and they could reschedule it. Fuck, he was a genius.

“Hey, uhh, Stark, what are you up to?”

Tony turned around from his crouched down position, cellphone in both hands. He resisted the urge to let out a sigh when he realized the voice belonged to the timid yet overzealous Peter Parker. Tony stood up, leaning his side against his locker. He noticed that the hallways had cleared out, everyone else ready to go home for the weekend, just as he was.

“What is it now?”

“I– it’s– nevermind,” Peter fumbled, getting ready to turn around and head off. Tony grabbed him by the shoulder.

“You’re here now, so just tell me,” Tony said, hoisting his backpack up to his shoulders.

“So it’s about the automatic solar tracker Ned and I have been working on, last time you said I should reinstall the software connected to it, but that turned out to be a bust, so I disassembled and reassembled it like three times and there still wasn’t any change. Mr. Harrington couldn’t even answer my question and everyone else I ask seems to be completely stumped about this so…who knows better than you when it comes to this stuff.”

Peter Parker immediately took a liking to Tony, the moment they met one day in detention. Well, Peter was volunteering to clean up the storage room next door and organize a few things in the room Tony was staying in at the time. He was a nerdy, at times coy, freshman who shared Tony’s interest in engineering and physics. Tony remembered fondly rolling his eyes when Peter once had said, “you’re like an older and much cooler version of me”. He had a protective streak towards the kid even if he did annoy him at times.

“Okay, explain the specifics from beginning to end.”

“Thanks, Stark, I really, really owe you one.”

The two began to walk down the hallway, heading to the entrance that would lead them outside.

“For the love of god Peter, call me Tony.”

“S-sorry force of habit. That’s what all my friends call you-”

Tony hoped he didn’t make a huge mistake. This kid could talk his– _anyone’s_ head off once he got carried away.

Afterwards, all that Tony would have on his mind was his meticulous plan for what was to come tomorrow. He really needed to unwind. He wasn’t going to let a couple of pink detention slips get in the way of it and he wasn’t going to let it bite him in the ass.


	2. Dumb, Reckless Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this chapter was a lot longer than planned; i hope yall enjoy this one cause its a ride
> 
> please tell me what you think of this fic and thanks to those who leave a kudos!

“Did you connect the red wires yet?”

“Peter?” Tony said, after he didn’t get a response. From the speakers of his phone, he could hear a slight scuffle. Next came a clicking noise.

_“Uh huh, I got it.”_ Tony heard Peter’s voice from the other line.

“Okay, now you can test the flashlight on it.”

Tony pushed himself up on his chair, now sitting cross legged on it. He pulled himself closer to his desk, continuing to revise the blueprints to a new project on his laptop. On his large laptop screen, he had two windows open. Adjacent to the pictures of the blueprints, was a window of an ornate design of the solar panel project that Peter sent to him. They were currently working on it together since Tony could only explain so much in words alone.

He actually found it quite therapeutic to multitask, working on his own project while helping Peter. It was a much-needed challenge for his brain. Plus, he loved the solace of isolating himself in his spacious workroom after a long day at school, having time to do what he was most passionate about.

_“Holy shit, it works!”_

Tony couldn’t help but to grin at Peter’s jubilant voice.

_“Dude, thanks so much. You really didn’t have to go out of your way to help me like this cause I probably took a whole lot out of your time today and you could have used it to do more important things like–”_

“I did it cause I wanted to,” Tony interrupted, purposely stopping the boy from drifting into one of his endless rambles.

_“Okay, I’ll take your word for it, only cause I know it annoys you when I don’t.”_

“Good,” Tony replied, “Did you ask her out yet?”

_“Who?”_ Peter said, genuinely taken aback by Tony’s sudden change of subject. He knew just who it was Tony was talking about, but he was too bashful to dive into the subject. Tony obviously couldn’t see it, but he could sense Peter’s cheeks heating up. The easily flustered nature of his was easy to predict miles away.

“I’ve seen the way you act around MJ. You become more jittery than usual and you’re always bringing her up whenever we talk about things that have nothing to do with her.”

_“I do?”_

“Yeah, you do.”

“ _I didn’t realize I was that obvious_ ,” Peter said, a nervous laugh encapsulating his feelings, “ _If you’re talking about the winter formal, I don’t even think she likes those types of events. She’s not exactly the school-spirited type of person…and I don’t know if she’d want to go as my date. What if she says no and then things get weird between us?_ ”

“How long have you guys known each other?”

“ _We’ve known each other since…kindergarten. Her family is practically my family and vice versa_.”

“You think she’s the type to let something like this destroy a nine-year friendship?”

“ _No. She’s not like that_.”

“Then it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Tony said, “Maybe you guys could go as friends and then continue on from there, maybe start asking her to hang out, just the two of you. If it’s meant to happen, then it will happen.”

“ _…Okay, that I can do_.”

“I’m sure she’ll have a good time, just cause she gets to spend some time with you. You’re one of the most kind-hearted people I know.”

“ _Oh, god, I– do you really mean that?_ ”

It was probably a huge deal for Peter to hear those words come out of Tony’s mouth. Tony felt an usually warm pang in his stomach, he didn’t throw around compliments like that cause he often became flustered from people’s reactions, however well he hid it.

“Don’t take it lightly. I don’t usually say stuff like this to most people.” He regained his composure in typical “Tony Stark” fashion.

\------

**_Saturday - 8:16 P.M_ **

It was a long day and Steve felt like passing the fuck out.

His four hour shift at the dealership miraculously became eight after his coworker fell ill. Why was his work was so short-staffed in the first place? He had schoolwork to get to, mountains and mountains of it. He opened the door to his apartment before flipping on the light switch. Another day, another empty house. His mother was working at the hospital for the rest of the night so he’d have the apartment to himself.

He tossed his coat on the couch before walking to the kitchen area.

Steve opened his fridge, eyeing the compartments up and down. He sorted through the sparse amounts of condiments and drinks to check for any discernable leftovers. Unfortunately, there weren’t any. They must have eaten the last of it yesterday. Fuck, he should have bought takeout or something when he was coming home.

Steve begrudgingly closed his fridge and grabbed his coat. He was going to order takeout, lots of it. He was too tired and lazy to cook something from what little they had.

Outside of the apartment complex, he took quick strides, his hands in his pockets. It was extra chilly today, at least chillier than he anticipated in the morning. He hated this weather. At least winter break was coming soon. He could wind down a bit as there wasn’t as much schoolwork and extra-curricular commitments for him to worry about.

He felt his phone vibrate in his coat pocket.

“Mom?”

“ _You finished work late again, Steve?”_

“Yeah, they had me work until 9:00 cause Gabe became sick.”

“ _Oh jeez_ ,” His mother’s tone became noticeably worried, “ _Are you home, at least? You must be exhausted.”_

“No, I’m ordering takeout for the both of us cause there’s pretty much nothing to eat.”

“ _Please, for the love of god, don’t order the greasy stuff_.”

Steve chuckled at his mother’s dramatics. 

“I know, you always tell me this–”

The loud sound of a car honk interrupted Steve mid-sentence. He unknowingly came to a stop and glanced up, seeing a 2006 red mustang convertible make a stop parallel to the curb, yards away from him. He saw a redhead at the wheel, her wavy hair reaching her shoulders. He quickly realized that was Natasha Romanov, a feisty and intimidating senior who he shared a couple of classes with, including gym. Next to her in the passenger’s seat was Clint Barton. He was your typical class clown with a crude sense of humor. He furrowed his brow, seeing the two loudly talk to each other, probably in the middle of an argument. Tony Stark’s presence, even when he was not physically there, still haunted him, in the form of his…lackeys? Just his night.

He could see Bruce Banner come out from a Starbucks within the outdoor shopping center he currently stopped in, the dark-haired male not seeing him in his periphery. Bruce hopped into the backseat area of the car. To Steve, he was the most bearable out of Tony’s friend group. The kid usually kept to himself and was the opposite of insufferable.

Oh, shit, he was talking to his mom.

He could hear her repeatedly call his name from the other line.

“Sorry, something caught my attention,” Steve quickly apologized, “What’d you say again?”

“ _It was about your Worldstudio scholarship application_ ,” She replied, “ _I was thinking you should drop that one and focus on the other two for now.”_

“I can handle it. The essay part is tedious as hell, but everything else is fine. I’ve already got a couple of references just yesterday.”

Steve heard an obnoxious car screeching sound. His eyes quickly darted back to the road and noticed that Natasha’s car just drove off.

“ _Steve I can help pay for some of your expenses, you don’t have to bombard yourself with all of this.”_

“Mom–”

“ _I could see you practically wanting to rip your hair off last weekend. You told me you were locked up in your room all day because you were trying to catch up on homework…while you were working on those scholarships and applications. Add that on to football, Art Club, the huge construction project, your job, and student council. I’m concerned about how much sleep you’re getting these days.”_

Steve stifled a sigh.

He hated when his mom got like this. It was understandable, but it was almost smothering for him.

He had applied to vast array of colleges since summer began, including his dream school, UC Berkley. Next was the vigorous work of applying to as much scholarships as he could possibly apply to. They weren’t all going to give him acceptance letters, if any, and financial aid alone could only help so much. Tacking on as many extra-curricular activities he enjoyed, keeping a good GPA, and volunteer work was the next step among many on his application journey.

It was a pain in the ass, but he knew it would be worth it all in the end if he got accepted into UC Berkeley.

“I’m not letting you pay for anything college related,” Steve said, “If it doesn’t completely work out, I can always take out some loans.”

“ _Steve you keep telling me not to worry about you, but I really do.”_

“And you don’t have to. I have everything under control.”

After a few last words, Steve hung up. He looked down at his phone in silence, caught up in his own thoughts. He didn’t like lying to his mother, but having her constantly concern herself with his problems 24/7 wasn’t any better. She had much more important things to worry about; she didn’t need to worry about Steve slowly unraveling over the mountains of work he had ahead of him.

He placed his phone back in his pocket before walking again.

\------

****

**_Saturday - 9:39 P.M_ **

There were easily over 100 people at the Stark mansion.

Word of his party really did go out.

And he wasn’t disappointed at all. The more people, the merrier. If anything, it meant that the normally unoccupied rooms – there were many of those – would be put to good use for the night.

Tony maneuvered himself through the groups of people in his foyer, their conversations easily drowned out by the blasting of music from the nearby speakers. His hand tightly clutched onto his plastic cup of some unidentifiable alcoholic drink. It tasted good so it didn’t matter too much to him.

He stepped outside, using one of the backdoors to enter the expansive outdoor living space. Next to it was the spacious back lawn. His eyes lit up and he grinned, seeing some of his fellow friends surrounding the giant bonfire he had help set up with them earlier.

Tony saw Natasha and Clint amongst them. Beside Natasha, sat an overexcited and bubbly brunette with a beanie and glasses. That was junior Darcy Lewis. Tony adored Darcy. On Natasha’s other side sat Virginia “Pepper” Potts, one of Tony’s exes…who he was still very friendly with. There was also another good friend of his, James Rhodes…or Rhodey, a nickname coined by his truly. They’ve known each other for a while, closely keeping in touch even though they went to different schools. Rhodey was often the voice of reason if Bruce wasn’t there to drill it into him. Pepper and Natasha were conversing with each other while Darcy was attempting to roast marshmallows on the crackling fire.

He did a once-over of the rest of the people who sat amongst the bonfire – Darcy’s best friend Jane Foster, foreign exchange student Thor Odinson, and a Sophomore girl who went by the name Wanda Maxi-something.

Bruce wasn’t currently with them; Tony guessed he had found another group of his friends to mingle with for the night.

“What are y’all doing without me?” Tony spoke up, making his presence known.

“Did you invite the whole district to this party?” Rhodey said.

“Change that to the whole city,” Tony replied, seeing Rhodey’s incredulous expression, “Word gets out fast when Howard Stark’s son is throwing a weekend party.”

From the corner of his eyes he could see Natasha roll her eyes.

“Pepper, I don’t know how you dated this one for nearly two years.”

“He’s not bad once you get past his eccentric-ness.”

“Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” Tony scoffed.

“We were about to play ‘Never Have I Ever’,” Darcy Lewis spoke up, her jolly voice a contrast from Natasha’s more serious tone. The brunette patted the empty lawn chair next to her, “Sit down and join us.”

“God, I haven’t played that in ages,” Tony replied, proceeding to take a seat, “Are we stripping in this version cause it’s fucking cold out here.”

There were a few stifled laughs among the group.

“No, genius, we take a small drink of this–” Clint said, wiggling a large bottle of Smirnoff Vodka by the top, “Preferably the amount of a normal shot, maybe more, that is, if you want.”

“Clint, don’t encourage him,” Natasha said.

“Okay, okay,” Clint said, innocently putting his hands up.

Darcy cleared her throat, rather loudly, to put a stop to all of the side conversations everyone else was having around the bonfire.

“Make sure the questions are super embarrassing. This one here looks like he hasn’t done anything too obscene, but you’d be surprised,” Tony said, nudging Rhodey on the arm.

“Speak for yourself, Tony,” Rhodey said, earning some more laughter from the others, “I’m worried you’ll get alcohol poisoning from this.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I can hold my own weight.”

\------

****

**_1 hour later…_ **

Unfortunately, Tony was wrong.

He was completely hammered.

Some of the others weren’t in such great shape either. Even the less outgoing Wanda had her fair share of alcohol. Natasha leant towards Clint, her hand lightly gripping his shoulder. They watched as Tony attempted to balance on a thin ledge, his arms outstretched. The dark-haired boy slightly tipped over before completely losing his balance. Before he could completely fall over to the ground, he felt two arms grab him on either side.

Tony looked on both sides, seeing that it was Thor and Jane who caught him in time.

“Aw, you guys…saved my life,” Tony said, a giggle escaping his mouth.

“Careful, Tony. You can barely walk,” Jane said. She had consumed some of the vodka as well, but she was nowhere near as intoxicated as Tony was.

“Yeah, yeah, I figured,” He replied, before facing the other, a sloppy grin emerging on his features, “Thor, that’s a unique name. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you that often at school. Do I have your number? I think I should get your number.”

“I’m touched, Stark,” The exchange student said.

“And taken,” Jane added, patting Thor on the chest for emphasis.

“Shucks, why are the hot ones are always unavailab–”

“Guys, get your butts over here. We’re not done yet!” Darcy shouted, interrupting Tony.

“Let’s play another game, I’m kind of over this,” Pepper replied, “I think all of you know my entire life story by now.”

“What do y’all wanna do then?”

“Hmm…truth or dare?” Clint said, a drunken slur to his voice, “But without the truth part?”

“Okay, that’ll do,” Darcy said, she then beckoned Tony and the other two to join them, “Come on, you guys!”

Tony removed himself from the hold of Thor and Jane, clumsily making his way back to his seat.

“Who wants to go first?”

“I’ll go,” Clint shrugged. He glanced around the area thinking of something bold enough, “I dare Romanov to kiss Pepper. Right on the lips.”

“Clint, is that really the worst you can come up with?” Pepper rolled her eyes.

“No, he’s probably going to get off on that,” Rhodey said.

A chorus of laughter filled the area.

Pepper gently cupped the sides of Natasha’s face. Natasha held onto the other’s wrists with her hands, securing them in place. There was a whistle or two amongst the silence before Natasha leaned in and pressed her lips against Pepper’s. Seconds later, they removed their lips from each other, amused grins on their faces.

“That was…hot,” Darcy giggled.

“Very,” Tony added, causing Pepper to jokingly scoff at him.

“Okay, I’m next,” Natasha said, “Tony. I dare you to do a run around the neighborhood and sing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ at the top of your lungs.”

There was a short silence between them. Everyone wondering if Tony was actually going to go through with this.

“Sure.”

“You’re really going to do that? That’s not embarrassing for you or anything?” Wanda spoke up.

“I think I’m too drunk to care,” Tony replied, now leaning against Rhodey, “Someone walk me with me. It wouldn’t make sense for me to be alone, y’know.”

“Let’s all go. I want to see this,” Thor added.

That was what they proceeded to do.

They all stood up from their seats, Rhodey making sure Tony could walk on his own two feet. Thankfully, he had his balance in tow. The alcohol warmed up his system pretty good, but he wasn’t completely gone yet.

“I can watch your stuff here while you guys watch him make a fool out of himself,” Rhodey said, “Take a video and send it to me.”

“Thanks, Honey-bear,” Tony patted Rhodey on the shoulder.

\------

The group of seven gathered around the enormous front lawn of Tony’s home.

“You think your stingy rich neighbors will call the cops on us?” Clint asked.

“Let’s hope not,” Tony said. He suddenly took off his coat before unbuttoning his floral print shirt. He pulled the garment off of him, revealing his sleeveless undershirt.

“You are _not_ ,” Jane plainly said, her mouth open in shock.

“What? I’m taking the dare to new heights,” Tony said, his nonchalance heightened by his drunkenness.

“What? What’s he doing?” Wanda said, entirely puzzled.

“What does it look like?” Natasha said.

They could only look on in astonishment as they watched Tony pull the undershirt off, tossing it to the ground beside the floral outfit.

“Tony preforming a strip tease before he streaks the entire neighborhood…this is going to end well,” Jane sighed, “This probably isn’t a good idea.”

“I’m with Foster,” Natasha added.

“Don’t worry, you worrywarts, I’m not going to go completely naked,” Tony retorted.

“Thank goodness,” Clint added, earning a few snickers among the group. Tony slightly shoved him in jest.

Once Tony was in his very short boxers, he hugged his chest with his arms. His form immediately shivering.

“Cold, huh?” Natasha said, as if it were the most obvious thing.

“Don’t talk me out of this,” Tony said, pointing at her.

\------

Tony thought he was insane for going with this.

Even in his inebriated state, the words, ‘what the hell am I doing?’ repeatedly echoed in his thoughts. Though, the part of him, without any inhibition, was looking for that new sense of thrill, something out of bounds that he had never done before. Maybe Pepper would have stopped him. Wait, why didn’t she stop him?

Oh yeah, cause he wouldn’t let her.

So here he was running on the neighborhood street, occasionally running across the lawns, waving his hands like a mad man, and wearing super tight boxers all while singing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” at the top of his lungs. Several feet behind him, his friends gathered in Thor’s truck, driving slowly but keeping a close enough distance to watch Tony lose all inhibition in himself.

“Oh my god, this is classic,” Clint said, within laughing fits. He was seated and leaning over on the trunk, unable to keep it together.

“Is he really going through the whole neighborhood?” Jane asked, from the front passenger seat. She was a little more composed than the others. While she and Thor sat in the front seats, the others were seated in the trunk of the vehicle, all huddled up together.

“Yeah, if he doesn’t freeze to death,” Natasha replied.

Tony kept up his running, sometimes skipping as the harsh, cool air hit him. His singing was off-key, screechy, and loud enough for the others to hear clearly from the vehicle.

Tony could hear the dispersed laughter from the others once he was done parading himself. Fuck, he was freezing. That was when he speedily made his way towards the truck, jumping onto the trunk bed. His harsh landing on the truck’s bedliner didn’t help his initial discomfort.

“Ouch, my butt!” He shouted.

“Shh!” Pepper shushed him, earning more snickers and laughter from the others. She handed Tony his outfit, “Now put these on before you catch something.”

As Tony began to put on his clothes, Thor drove back towards the direction of Tony’s house to finish their game of “truth and dare, but without the truth”.

As the hours ticked by, Tony’s party became more erratic. Alongside his friends, Tony drank more and more, not taking into account of how out of control it was getting. Whatever was happening, he could deal with it eventually. He would have it under control tomorrow, if not today.

\------

Tony stirred a few times before opening his eyes. He grimaced and clutched his head in pain as the harsh sunlight invaded his eyes. He furrowed his brows before shutting them back closed. His throbbing headache was persistent. He didn’t dare to move one bit; the pain was too much for him to bear. Of all the times Tony had thrown and been to parties, he had never drank so much at one before, now that he thought about it.

Tony forced his eyes open and sat up. He nearly doubled over from the sudden nauseous feeling in his stomach.

He immediately hopped off his bed and ran to the bathroom. He pushed open the toilet bowl and hurled straight into it, coughing as he trembled from the sudden impact on his body.

He wiped his mouth and flushed the toilet before catching his breath and leaning against the wall. Tony walked– crawled, rather, outside of the bathroom. Before leaving his bedroom, he saw Clint, Natasha, and Bruce in the room. Clint slept on the other edge of his ginormous bed while Bruce and Natasha slept on separate sleeping bags. He must have let them sleepover with him, after everyone else had left.

When he exited his bedroom, he saw a view of the foyer.

It was a complete mess.

Large pieces and crumbs of food laced the floor while some of the furniture, tables and sofas particularly, were overturned. There were small puddles of spilt drinks while crumbled napkins and plates were dispersed throughout the area. Even some plastic cups were left on the ground, alcohol spilling out of them.

Tony rubbed his forehead.

“Shit…” He hissed to himself. Tony shut his eyes, trying his best to remember what happened after the streaking. After several minutes passed, his mind was still a blank slate. He couldn’t remember a thing.

All of the alcohol really did a number on him.

Hopefully, nobody stole anything. That would be bad. Especially after he made sure to lock away any valuables and rooms that were off limits.

“Tony?”

At the sound of Bruce’s voice, Tony shuffled around in his seated position. He did not want to stand up.

“Bruce,” Tony whined, thankful to hear his voice, “Where were you all night?”

“Away from the noise,” He replied; he looked over towards the Foyer, “We can help you clean it up.”

“You sure?” Tony asked, “I mean, you don’t have to. I can just order a cleaning service. My parents won’t be home until 7:00.”

When Bruce was about to open his mouth, possibly to retort, he was interrupted by Tony.

“Bruce, I can handle it. I call them and they come clean up the mess,” He replied, knowing what he was about to say, “And we have homework to catch up on, cause god knows we didn’t finish all of it.”

“…Good point,” Bruce replied, he saw the pained, hungover state of Tony, “You shouldn’t have drank so much.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Tony could only say, “I’ll cook you guys up a fattening breakfast. It’s the most I can do right now.”

“You’re not going to do that alone,” Bruce replied, “Take some Pepto or something and drink water.”

“You heard me throw up my entire body weight,” Tony slightly cringed, pulling his knees to his chest. Bruce always knew how to dote on him. If not, he’d probably end up dead on the roadside if it wasn’t for him.

“That actually woke me up,” The other plainly said.

“Fine, you can help me,” Tony gave in, “Just so you know, we’re making fried chicken and waffles.”

“You manage to surprise me every single day. I seriously don’t know how you do it.”

\------

**Monday – 8:43 A.M**

Tony arrived to his first period class, two minutes before the bell would ring. He promised himself he would go to the front office and explain his Saturday detention absence first thing, but he arrived later than anticipated. He scanned the classroom for empty desk and got himself seated in the first one he could find.

“Looking good, Gamora,” Tony spoke, glancing at the girl who sat to the right of him. He wagged his eyebrows the moment she faced him. Tony only gave her an innocent stare once she rolled her eyes.

“What do you want, Tony?”

She was annoyed, alright. Well, she was always like this, except to a select few people. Gamora had a standoffish character and Tony always made it his mission to crack through that shell. Much to his dismay, Tony tried asking her out last year, only to have a splash of strawberry milk thrown at him by her sister, Nebula.

“I’m just complimenting you, no ulterior motives,” He replied, he sat up from relaxed position, “I just missed this class last Friday and I wanna know what chapters you guys went over.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t skip so much,” She said, her stare now away from Tony.

“Please, Gamora,” Tony begged, slightly jutting his bottom lip out in a pout, “I fell asleep like a dead weight and my alarm didn’t work for some reason. The teach won’t even tell me if I ask him at this point, c’mon pleaseee–”

“Chapter 12 and 13. And we didn’t have any new homework, all we had to do was finish the study guide,” She interrupted him, her annoyed expression not going away, “I swear, this is the last time.”

“Thank you, and that’s probably the last time I’ll ask, cause I won’t miss this class anymore. Can’t afford to.”

“Sure,” She replied, sarcasm practically dripping off of her voice.

Before Tony could reach into his backpack and grab his notebook and other supplies, the familiar scratching noise of the outdated-looking front speaker put a stop to the chatter among the students.

“ _Tony Stark, please come to the front office, urgently. Tony Stark, please come to the front office_.” One of the front office administrators said through the speaker, repeating her words for clarity.

Tony momentarily frowned, but quickly remembered that was probably for the detention he skipped. He could explain himself and call his father, as planned. He was good at that.

\------

Tony peeked through the front office doors, before fully opening them. He headed inside, keeping a confident stride.

“Good Morning, Mrs. Hill,” He said, his voice peppy and upbeat.

“Hi, Tony. You’re wanted in the Principals office,” She said, her words terse but friendly enough. She was used to seeing Tony’s presence here, but she was never visibly annoyed or tired of him, like many of the faculty here.

“Oh,” He said, less upbeat than before. That didn’t happen too often. He usually had a short talk with Hill or one of the other front office workers before his detention was rescheduled.

His steps were slower, his self-assurance slowly waning. He knocked on the principal’s door.

“Come in,” He could hear Shield’s principal, Nick Fury, from the other side of the door.

Tony opened the door.

That was when he froze for a second.

“Mom? Dad?” Tony said, “What are you doing here?”

He saw Principal Fury, signature eyepatch and all, sitting at his pristine mahogany desk, as usual. But on the other side, his father, Howard, and mother, Maria, were sitting in separate chairs, probably in the middle of a long conversation with the principal before Tony knocked. This was something new, absolutely new. He had never seen them physically here. He had only ever made phone calls whenever he needed his father to vouch for him.

“Sit down, Stark,” Fury said, in his deep, intimidating voice. God, was he always so uptight and unsmiling?

Tony sat down on the empty seat, next to his parents.

“When did you guys get here?” Tony asked, utterly confused. For Christ sake, wasn’t his dad supposed to be at the office today? And his mom was supposed to have an early doctor’s appointment. Before anyone could answer, he quickly took in both of their expressions. His mother had her arms crossed, her stare glued to her lap. Her lips were frozen in a downturned slope. His normally vivacious mom never looked like this. His father had a barely restrained anger, his tight expression speaking volumes. He was absolutely still, trying his damned hardest not to lash out at his son.

This was scaring Tony.

“Is this about my detention? Because I forgot about it. I was completely swamped in homework over the weekend and the thought of it just passed my mind–” 

“This isn’t about the detention,” Fury interrupted him.

“It isn’t?” Tony said. He figured it wasn’t. The fact that he was called to Fury’s office and his parents being here clued him in pretty quickly. His heartrate was noticeably quicker. He tried to keep his voice neutral, cool, whatever, “…What am I here for then?”

“You’re not the only person from this school who lives in Whitestone,” Fury spoke, the burgeoning anger slowly enveloping his voice.

“What do you mean?” Tony said, wiping his palms across his lap. He was uncharacteristically nervous, yet impatient at the same time. When was he going to get to the point? He had a class to get to.

“He says you ran around his property yelling like a madman while he was having a meeting with the district’s school board directors, at his home,” His father said, unable to look at Tony. He was furious.

Wait.

Tony froze.

Shit.

Oh, shit. _SHIT._

“Completely naked, mind you,” Fury added.

“I was wearing boxers…” Tony mumbled. Sweat pooled at the edges of his forehead. Now this was absolutely humiliating.

“And why the hell does that matter?” Fury said, practically snarling at him, “This was something important, _very_ important, to me. Do you know how bad this makes me look?”

“Nick– Mr. Fury, I didn’t even–” Tony stumbled. He was completely befuddled. He had no idea principal Fury lived in his neighborhood! He knew the principal was well off, but not _that_ well off. What salary did school principals make these days?

“For once in your life, please be quiet and listen,” Howard scolded.

“You were lucky I didn’t call the cops. I’d rather I take this entire situation into my own hands,” Fury said. He shuffled through a small stack of papers before pushing a single one towards Tony. He saw a long table with a myriad of dates and very brief explanations next to each of them.

“These are all of the referrals, detentions, the times you’ve skipped detentions, plus the single suspension you’ve gotten, since the school year started.”

Tony flipped the sheet of paper over, seeing it span to the other page.

“This whole…situation…is just the pinnacle of your record infractions,” Fury continued, “Your parents and I had a long talk and realized that this means expulsion.”

Tony’s heartbeat was practically drumming through his ears. No, he couldn’t get expelled!

“But I wasn’t even on school grounds when that happened!” Tony retorted, his leg rapidly bouncing, “You can’t punish me for something that happened outside of school.”

“It’s my property, Stark, so I can discipline you for that.”

Tony’s breath shook. Just when he was about to lay low on his antics at school. Just his fucking luck.

“We’ve been too easy on you, Tony,” His mother, Maria, spoke for the first time since he arrived. She was completely upset, it was as if she was almost on the verge of crying with a tinge of anger mixed in. Tony had never seen her so disappointed before and he didn’t like it one bit. “And we can’t keep going on like this, not anymore. We need to do better.”

His friends. God, his friends.

How was he going to explain this to them?

“Lucky for you, your father was able to pull some strings,” Fury said, absolute contempt lacing his words. The privilege just oozed out of this boy, it almost enraged him.

“What?” Tony glanced back up.

“You’re not getting expelled,” The principal said, folding his hands together, “Instead, you’re going spend every other Saturday in detention, 8:00 to 1:00, for the rest of the year.”

Tony slightly relaxed, lowering his shoulders.

“A.M to P.M, I hope?” Tony joked, a modicum of relief in his voice. Well, that wouldn’t be so bad.

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Fury said.

“…Ok.”

Tony was getting nervous, again.

“You’re going to do a form of in-school community service. You’ll be helping our volunteers work on a construction project, four hours, three days a week, after school hours or weekends, depending on the pre-planned schedule for the week. A lot of the times the days reach up to five, if you guys don’t finish the work assigned within the three days or if there aren’t enough volunteers that week due to other commitments they may have.”

“H-how long am I doing that for?”

“For the rest of the year.”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no. He had to have heard Fury wrong.

“The rest of the year?? But–”

“You’d rather he expel you?” Howard angrily interrupted, “You are so lucky we did this for you, Tony. Most people don’t have it as easy.”

“Of course not! It’s just a little excessive. I have important things to do outside of school, y’know?”

“Like what? Getting blackout drunk with your friends? Vacationing over the weekends? Spending all day locked up in your lab?”

“Come on, Dad. You know what types of projects I do in there,” Tony retorted. He only huffed when his father wouldn’t respond to that.

“In addition to that, you won’t miss a single day of school, unless it’s an absolute emergency,” The principal interjected, “And you’ll write a 2000-word essay on how wrong it is to represent Shield High with unprofessional behavior.”

Tony crossed his arms.

“And if you have an unexcused absence for _anything_ I mentioned, you will be expelled,” Fury said, “Any questions?”

He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Maybe this was worse than being expelled. Or maybe not. Maybe this was a horrible, horrible dream or maybe he was hallucinating. He didn’t sleep so well last night.

“What exactly am I going to do in this construction project?”

“You’ll be helping a team of other students and construction workers build a daycare center for the school. Don’t worry too much, the volunteers are more than happy to teach you the rounds as you’ll be working closely with some of them too,” Fury answered, Tony could practically sense the condescending sound to his voice, “Oh, and you’ll actually be reporting to your first day of work after school today. They desperately need an extra pair of hands since there’s such a small amount of volunteers working right now. You know Steve Rogers, right?”

Tony frowned.

“…Yes.”

“He will be your partner for the whole duration of the project.”


	3. Not What He Signed Up For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally,, more interaction between Steve and Tony

Tears were practically streaming down Clint’s face, his laughter uncontrollable.

“So, you’ve been living there for almost six years and you _never_ knew he lived several houses away from you?” Natasha said, her hand practically hiding the top half of her face. Her elbow was perched on top of her desk as she rubbed her temples in complete second-hand mortification.

After what was possibly the most humiliating ordeal Tony has ever dealt with in recent times, he was able to make it to his second period class of the day as each class spanned 45 minutes on Mondays. Before leaving to class and begrudgingly telling his friends about what went down, he had his parents pull him aside in the office. The long-winded lecture he got from his father and the disappointed words his mother threw at him was just…crushing. It preemptively set him in a grouchy mood.

“My neighbors aren’t the most social types,” Tony said, he stifled an irritated sigh while he stared at Clint’s doubled over position. Instead, he gave the blonde an annoyed side-eye, “I’m glad I could make some of you laugh.”

“It’s kind of funny,” Bruce shrugged. When Tony’s expression wouldn’t budge, he gave him an assuring pat on the shoulder, “At least you didn’t get expelled. Knowing Fury, I think he went really easy on you.”

“I get mandatory community service for four hours, three to five days of the week, Saturday detention every other week, and no more absences or tardies. Oh yeah! And a 2000-word essay on why it’s wrong for me to run around in my underwear in front of my principal’s house! Easy-peasy.”

“Compared to being expelled, yes,” Bruce said, adamant on his words.

“Easy for you to say,” Clint said, his laughter still apparent. He wiped the corners of his eyes with the tips of his fingers, “You’re practically one of the most disciplined people I know.”

“Just ride it out. Before you know it, we’ll be graduating and spending the entire summer together. Just the four of us,” Natasha reassured, “And it’s not like your entire time is taken up by all of this.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony sighed, sinking down in his seat, “It’s just…I’m not looking forward to working with Steve Rogers of all people. Four entire hours with him. I don’t think it’s possible for me to work with someone so uptight, boring, and up their own ass.”

“Ouch,” Natasha said.

“Maybe that was too harsh, but I’m not a fan of the guy, okay? He hates my guts, too.”

The bell rang, signifying another start to Calculus.

\------

Tony was incredibly smart, there was no denying that.

His massive array of projects, inventions, quick-learning, and his excellent grades without having to apply himself into his schoolwork unlike most of his classmates, substantiated that fact. He was guaranteed to get accepted into MIT, his dream college – not only because of his family connections but his perfect ACT scores, his engineering prowess, and his high marks.

It was the reason why Tony dismissed the notion of regular public school. It didn’t stimulate his brainpower enough. The repetitive, memory-based assignments just didn’t do it for him. He’d rather divert his attention onto different things he deemed more fulfilling like his lab, his friends, and the activities that went hand-in-hand with his vivacious social life.

Speaking of activities, he was quick to realize that many, if not most, of the school had heard about his “streaking” incident by now, being that information like that gets around quick. Much to Tony’s displeasure, there was also the abject humiliation which came along with the ordeal, especially being sober. But knowing himself, Tony would try his hardest to take it in stride if anyone brought it up.

He roughly threw his backpack in his locker before closing it.

It was 3:49, which meant it was time to start his first day of volunteer work.

…and he had to get there in 11 minutes.

“Fuuuuck,” Tony groaned, repeatedly slamming his head on his locker. He ignored the weird stares he was receiving from passersby. His anger was more important. Right now, he would have been on his way home to coop himself up in his lab, his classic rock playlist blasting on the highest volume while he created updates on the rocket-like thrusters he started on a few weeks ago. Instead, he was going to do, with very much reluctance, manual labor for free.

Once he regained his composure, he turned around, ready to head to the room he was told to go to. Instead, his phone vibrated. He fished it out of his pocket, almost staring fondly at the screen as he received a new text from Peter Parker.

_[3:50 P.M] Underoos: i know its probably not my place to ask, but is everything okay?_

Tony remembered changing Peter’s contact name to a moniker he coined for him. Underoos suited him quite well.

_[3:50 P.M] Tony: aside from all the trouble i got into and the nicknames people are throwing at me…_

_[3:50 P.M] Tony: i think ill live_

_[3:50 P.M] Tony: im taking it one day at time_

False optimism. That was not something Tony ever did. He didn’t want to unload all sorts of negativity towards Peter, though. That would make things awkward for the freshman.

_[3:51 P.M] Underoos: yeah, i think thats best_

_[3:52 P.M] Underoos: oh, i have some good news!!_

Tony had a knowing smile.

_[3:52 P.M] Tony: MJ said yes?_

_[3:52 P.M] Underoos: yes!_

Tony waited as he noticed the words “typing…” periodically appear beside Peter’s name. He could sense Peter’s excitement through what was probably his sporadic typing.

_[3:53 P.M] Underoos: i was thinking of asking her through text, but i realized that was kind of lame so i waited until saturday to invite her to game night at my house, like I always do, ned was pretty confused at first when i told him i told him he couldn’t come that day but he quickly understood right?? so, just out of nowhere, the words came out, like when she was getting ready to leave, she said “as a date or as friends?” and then i said “it doesn’t matter to me” and then she said “as a date, then”, ive never been so excited for a school dance out of all things…_

_[3:53 P.M] Tony: woah, run-on sentence_

Peter’s way of speaking even translated to his texting, much to Tony’s amusement.

_[3:53 P.M] Tony: but im happy for you, really_

_[3:53 P.M] Tony: im glad my advice helped_

_[3:54 P.M] Underoos: yeah, thank you, tony_

_[3:55 P.M] Tony: anytime_

_[3:55 P.M] Tony: i have to get somewhere quick, volunteering assignment_

_[3:55 P.M] Underoos: is that a part of your punishment?_

_[3:55 P.M] Tony: yup, we’re still on for the web fluid experiment, right?_

_[3:56 P.M] Underoos: yeah, of course!_

_[3:56 P.M] Tony: ok, see you tomorrow_

_[3:56 P.M] Underoos: good luck!_

Tony’s momentary happiness was immediately whisked away the moment he placed his phone back in his pocket.

He was supposed to meet everyone else at room B4 of the school building before they were to head outside to do the actual project. Tony briskly walked from his locker before continuing on with a sprint. He couldn’t be late.

\------

Right at 3:59, Tony entered the room, his heavy steps catching just a couple of the students’ attentions. He did a once-over of the people in the room, a lot of them enthusiastically chatting amongst each other as they were clearly acquainted with each other through this volunteering opportunity. The desks were arranged in a circular formation, creating an open, collaborative environment. As expected, he saw Steve Rogers sitting in one of them. He wasn’t aware of Tony’s presence as he was busy speaking to the person who sat next to him.

Tony then reminded himself. He had to make the best of this situation. It wouldn’t be of use for him to be a constant ball of negativity. He would be doing himself a favor if he remained his normally charming, outgoing self.

“Fury told me someone new would be joining us today.”

Tony saw a middle-aged man approach him. He recognized that to be one of the guidance counselors, Phil Coulson. He had an approachable, amicable air about him, yet he was stern when the time called for it.

“Take a seat,” Coulson said. Before Tony could proceed to do that, he stopped him, “Wait, I’ll need your phone.”

“What? My phone?”

“Yes, the device you’re holding in your right hand,” Coulson as-matter-of-factly said, eyes on the iPhone Tony was protectively clutching, “There’s a no-cellphone policy in this program.”

Tony almost sighed, instead he begrudgingly gave up his smartphone to him. 

“I’ll catch you up on things after I give the outline of what we’ll be doing today.”

He nodded before heading towards the desk area.

He tried looking for any familiar faces, ones that weren’t Steve Rogers.

“Tony!” A familiar voice whispered.

Tony’s face lit up when he saw Darcy among the 26 students that were currently in the room. She gave him a tiny wave, her usual optimistic grin plastered on her face. He proceeded to take the empty seat closest to her, which was only two seats away.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

Tony quickly glanced towards the front of the classroom, seeing Coulson clap his hands together to get everyone else’s attention. He looked back at Darcy who was itching for an answer. Now, she looked kind of perplexed, rightfully so. Why would Tony Stark willingly volunteer for a long-term school project like this?

“Long story, I’ll tell you later,” Tony whispered. He guessed Darcy was one of the few who didn’t know about how he got into trouble.

The brunette only nodded before sitting back at her desk.

“I guess everyone’s weekends were great,” Coulson began, “I’ve never seen you guys so talkative before.”

There were a few short laughs amongst the group of students.

“So, all of you–” Coulson briefly stopped, glancing at Tony for a moment, before continuing, “ _Most of you_ know what we’re getting straight into today, right? If not, we start installing the drywall panels onto the walls. Finally, huh?”

Unbeknownst to Tony, Steve was staring at him, now only realizing his presence. His stare was expectantly a befuddled one, his eyebrows pressed together and lips slightly parted.

Coulson briefly described what was to happen today, keeping it to the point so everyone would have more than enough time to get a good portion of work done.

After Coulson finished, everyone got up from their desks, the desk tips slightly scraping the against the floor and their steps quick and prepared. They were clearly ready to head outside to start yet another day of hard work. Judging by the enthusiastic atmosphere within the room, this type of project was unmistakably enjoyable for them, much to Tony’s surprise. He could see Darcy wait for him by the door. Before he could reach her, Coulson’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Tony, Steve. Can I have a word with you both?”

Oh, boy. He nearly forgot.

Coulson had to pair him up with Steve.

Tony could see Steve in the process of zipping his backpack closed before glancing up at Coulson. Yep, he looked really confused. They must not have told him about this whole situation beforehand, especially since Tony was suddenly thrust into this project.

“The rest of you can go start,” Coulson repeated to the others who were still in the process of leaving the room.

At the corner of his sight, Tony could see Darcy head out after glancing at him once more.

Once the classroom was devoid of the other students, it was just the three of them alone. Tony was right next to Steve and the tense environment around them was never more apparent. The air around him felt thick and suffocating. This was pretty humiliating; this wasn’t how he wanted things turn out. Partnering up with uptight Steve Rogers was the last thing he wanted right now.

Then again, Tony should have seen this whole situation coming. His carefree behavior finally caught up to him.

“Steve, Tony will be joining us for the rest of the year. And since your old partner abruptly left last week, we’ve decided to partner you up with him,” Coulson began, “For the week, you’ll be responsible for showing him around the construction site and assisting him since he needs to get on board with the rest of us. Is that okay with you?”

Tony wasn’t looking but he could practically sense the hard frown on Steve’s face.

“Yeah, that’s okay,” Steve finally said, in a neutral voice.

Tony briefly pursed his lips to the side. He could tell that Steve was trying to keep it together, for the love of all things good and holy. This was probably a nightmare for him, but it wasn’t like Tony chose to do this.

“Oh, good, great,” Coulson was clearly relieved, “I wish I could be the one to do it, but I have a lot on my plate today. The construction manager is giving me a detailed rundown on things that are supposed to happen after winter break.”

After Coulson recapped the whole project to Tony, they were the last to head out of the classroom, Coulson locking the doors.

As of what Tony currently knew, Coulson was the team leader or chaperone who oversaw the volunteers/students, that there were 31 high schoolers who were the considered the team of volunteers – all of them juniors or older, and that there was a large construction site not too far from the school that their work would take place in.

“I’ll be in my office since he’s meeting me there,” Coulson said. He noticed the stiff body language between the two boys, his discomfort surfacing just by looking at them, “The both of you look like you saw someone get run over by a truck. Why don’t you two introduce each other to yourselves, get comfortable. You’ll both be working a lot together for the rest of the year so that initial bond is important.”

Tony had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at the empty platitude.

“Okay, I’ll see you guys later,” The guidance counselor awkwardly said, after he didn’t see a change in their body language, “Make sure Tony gets a uniform!”

“See you, Coulson,” Steve plainly said, before watching him leave.

The further away his steps got, the more tense things felt. It was completely silent between the two boys, Steve remaining in his spot and unmoving. Weren’t they supposed to go out to the construction site? Tony slightly frowned, he wouldn’t let himself shrink under the blonde’s imposing stare.

“What are you doing here, Tony?”

“I’m not stalking you, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Tony retorted, ignoring the other’s cold tone. He wasn’t going to let himself get intimidated, in any way shape or form, by Steve fucking Rogers. He’d play it cool instead, maybe he could entertain himself at his expense. It was the least he could do, to keep himself from going crazy in this project he was forced to do.

“I never said that.”

“I never said that you said that.”

Steve let out a stifled sigh, his irritation exponentially growing. Tony’s mocking voice didn’t help.

“Just follow me,” He finally said, beginning to take quick steps. His irritation was not going away anytime soon. Tony narrowed his eyes, trying to burn a hole through Steve’s back before beginning to tail him.

“If you really want to know why I’m here, I’ll tell you,” Tony exclaimed, sprinting up to the taller male to catch up, “I mean, I thought you’d already know, it’s common knowledge around the school, by now, at least.”

“What makes you think I’d know anything about your personal life?”

Tony walked again at a normal speed after he was slightly ahead of Steve. He turned around, walking backwards instead to face the other.

“Word about anything I do gets around _really_ fast, especially when it involves the parties I throw.”

Steve barely held his scoff.

“Everything revolves around you, huh?”

“Hey, I’m just surprised you don’t know! Then again, it’s kind of embarrassing, so I’d prefer it stay that way,” Tony said, suggestively wagging his eyebrows.

“You’re so self-absorbed.”

Tony blew out a noisy breath, a tinge of frustration emerging. Of course, that’s what Steve thought about him.

“That’s a pretty judgmental thing to say. We don’t even– fuck!”

Tony’s back harshly collided with a door frame. He got so carried away in his conversation– squabble with Steve that he didn’t bother to look to the back of him. He grimaced, rubbing his back as a poor attempt to soothe the pain. He gritted his teeth, watching Steve bypass him through the hallway’s doors without even asking if he was okay.

\------

The construction site looked like…well…a construction site. It was isolated behind the school, a quarter of a mile from the building to be exact. The field was vast, the soil neatly paved and the rougher edges away from the building that was being worked on. Tractors, excavators were neatly dispersed throughout as the volunteers were getting ready to continue on with their assignment for the day.

Tony followed Steve inside a shed. Inside of it was dimly lit, extra supplies and uniforms lying around.

“This is what you’ll be wearing.”

Before Tony could say anything, he felt an object hit him square in the face. He briefly glared at Steve before eyeing the uniform that was thrown at him. It was a standard orange vest with a couple of yellow stripes strewn across it. They came with a pair of dark, durable work pants.

“And this is the hat that goes with it,” Steve said, handing him a yellow construction helmet.

“I am _not_ putting this on,” Tony held onto the helmet like it would singe his fingers any minute.

“If you want to get a concussion from a falling object, then I won’t stop you.”

Tony almost wanted to mock Steve’s words, but quickly concluded that would be incredibly childish. He eyed his whole uniform once again before speaking.

“Ok, fine, I’ll wear the stupid hat,” He said, in defeat, “What about my shoes?”

Steve’s eyes darted to Tony’s footwear, a pair of red leopard print Chain Reaction sneakers, “There’s extra pairs of work boots you can try on for today. Coulson will order some new ones for you once you tell him your foot size. Same goes with the rest of the uniform.”

“Great.”

Steve gave the other a pinched expression. The bitter exasperation in Tony’s one-worded response just irked him for some reason.

\------

After they both changed into their uniforms, one waiting for the other to finish as they did so separately, they were finally heading towards the inner part of the building.

Tony thought he looked ridiculous. The bright neon colored vest, the construction pants – which he had to roll up since they were so long, and the tacky plastic construction hat swamped his shorter frame. He pulled up the left side of his vest after noticing it slip down his shoulder. Sadly, the other sizes of the extra uniforms were either way too big or too small for him.

The building they were working on became closer in view with everyone working on it, construction workers helping the volunteers making sure they were doing things safe. Tony continued to follow Steve, making sure to stay on the bulldozed area.

Wait, what if he “accidently” tripped over the rougher edges of the ground and got a horrible injury from that? He wouldn’t have to do this, for a while at least!

Tony immediately dismissed that thought. He wasn’t going to resort to that. His desperation didn’t go that far. Either way, Fury would find something else for him to do, probably something insanely boring.

Inside the building, Steve stopped close to an area where a group of four was working together. Tony proceeded to do the same, eyes darting to the group. Lucky for him, Darcy was amongst them.

“So, what do you want me to do, soldier?” Tony spoke up, hands on his hips.

“Tony, I know you would rather be anywhere than here, but please don’t test me.”

“Lighten up a bit, would you?” Tony defensively said, he changed his tune once he saw Steve’s lowered brows, his aggravated expression unchanging, “Fine, fine, Steve it is.”

“We’ll be watching them for now and then I’ll show you around the place. After Coulson comes back, he’ll tell us what we do next,” Steve said, crossing his arms.

“Right, baby steps,” Tony unenthusiastically said.

The two made sure to stay a close, but safe enough distance from the others as they drilled in the walls that were aligned by the construction workers with power tools. Tony sat down, cross legged, while Steve remained standing.

After about fifteen minutes, Darcy stepped down a ladder she was on before heading over to where Tony and Steve were.

“Wow, the Screw Guns really do a number on my fingers,” She said, clenching and unclenching her hand. She grimaced, the soreness of her fingers not going away.

“Taking a break, Darce?” Tony said.

“Hell yes,” She replied, plopping down across from him, “Never in my life did I think I’d ever see you wear a construction uniform.”

“You like?” Tony said, dramatically extending his arms for theatrics.

“It looks like it’s about to swallow you whole,” She giggled, exaggerating the appearance of the over-sized outfit on Tony’s fame, “So, what brings you here?”

Steve’s attention diverted towards them, suddenly interested in the conversation, not that he would ever admit that.

“Oh, well–”

“He got caught streaking the Principal’s house!” A new voice said, quite loudly. Tony could hear a few stifled laughs nearby. Darcy looked on in shock, putting two and two together.

The voice belonged to one the guys among Darcy’s group. Tony instantly recognized him as Quentin Beck, a senior who shared a class or two with him. He was a smarmy son of a bitch. Quentin’s father had a withstanding grudge against Tony’s own father, as the former got fired by the latter for releasing confidential documents outside of the workplace years ago. For that reason, Quentin took the lasting effects of that ordeal to the grave with him and created a longstanding resentment against Tony by association.

“Seriously?” Steve said, the side of his lips opening up in what Tony guessed was a half-smile. That was the first time Tony saw the guy amused, at least with something involving him.

“I told you it was embarrassing,” Tony replied, then continued in a louder voice, “Oh, and Becky, it’s not streaking if you do it with underwear on!”

Tony almost let out a triumphant smile when he heard a few scattered laughs at Quentin’s expense.

Quentin’s mouth practically twisted into a snarl. Tony’s scathing tone, especially when he butchered his name didn’t sit too well with him, apparently.

“If I pulled half the shit Stark pulls, I’d probably be in jail right now, if expulsion wasn’t enough,” Quentin retorted. He pressed on his electric screw gun a couple of times, carefully spacing the nails out on the dry wall, “Privilege, I tell you. It’s the reason why he gets to do this as “punishment” instead of having to move his annoying ass to another school.”

“Would you shut up for once, Quentin?” Darcy snapped.

“It’s true and you know it, babe,” He countered, only causing her to angrily glare at him.

“Just ignore him,” She said to Tony.

The sad thing was that Quentin was right. Tony didn’t have his usual quips spraying out of his mouth in retort against Quentin’s words, because of that. An uncharacteristic guilt was bubbling within him, as much as he hated it. His scathing words were something that wouldn’t escape his mind.

\------

Steve had shown Tony around the area, describing the general layout of the construction site, introducing Tony to some of the construction workers who aided the students, and showing the broad assortments of tools that were held in the supply closet. Much to Steve’s surprise, Tony wasn’t as flippant or even talkative. It was a stark contrast to how he was before Quentin told him off, maybe his words might gotten to him. Quentin was an asshole and Steve could barely stand him on a good day, but he was glad Tony was brought down a few notches.

Before it was time for the volunteers to leave for the day, one of the construction workers had Steve help Tony screw the edge of a drywall sheet that was hung. They worked closely with him in case the first timer would make any mistakes.

Tony was able to get the hang of it quickly. He built things all of the time and used all sorts of power tools such as the ones the volunteers used to screw in the dry wall.

Afterwards, Coulson pulled Tony aside and told him to change back into his regular clothes. He him back to the classroom.

“Not bad for your first day, Tony,” He said.

“I’m good at building things,” The other shrugged, “Now, can you tell me what I’m here for?”

“I know this is something you’re not thrilled about,” Coulson said after a short silence. He watched Tony sit over top of one of the desks, his way of getting comfortable.

“Damn, that obvious, huh?”

“Tony.”

Coulson’s voice was in a somewhat reproachful tone. He wasn’t on board with Tony’s facetious, sarcastic tone.

“Sorry,” The other plainly said, placing his hands over top of each other between his knees. His posture was slightly relaxed.

“Like I said, I know you find much more enjoyment in things other than this,” Coulson continued, “But if you come in every day with the negative outlook, expecting the worst than that’s how things going to feel.”

“I figured,” Tony mumbled.

“You said you’re good at building things. You like to tinker with stuff all the time, right?”

“Yup,” Tony popped the p, his attention faraway and inattentive. He absently but lightly swung his legs from the desk as they barely reached the floor. All he was thinking about right now was what time he’d get home, “I work on projects at home all the time; robots, engines, solar powered devices, all sorts of gadgets.”

There was a longer silence between the two which shockingly garnered Tony’s attention back.

“Can’t you translate your ingenuity onto this project?” Coulson said, causing the other to raise their brows, “I can let you add your own input or suggestions onto how we go about it. Some of our volunteers have done that before and we’ve even changed course on a few aspects of the assignments they were given because of that.”

Obviously, Tony never thought about it that way. Though, his sour mood was just about dampening everything he heard or saw.

“Fine, I’ll try. I won’t make things hard for you guys. Y’all have a job to do and I have a year-long punishment I can’t back out of…unless I want to get expelled.”

“Seriously, Tony. This might not be as bad as you make it out to be. If you pay more attention to the upsides of getting to work on this project, then you might find yourself enjoying it.”

After half-heartedly taking Coulson’s words in, Tony was allowed to head back home. The first thing he did was go straight to his room, closing the door shut. He slipped off his shoes and flopped down on his bed before pressing his face against the pillow, savoring the new founded comfort. It was warm, cozy, and just what he needed. Tony was surprised at how tired he was, he barely even did much at the construction site, mainly just watching...and watching...and watching, minus a little bit of practice.

After a good 15 minutes, he flipped over, lying on his back before pulling his phone out of his pocket. It was the first time he’d check it since Coulson confiscated it. He got a text from Natasha, one from his mother, and a few from his group chat with Bruce, Clint, and Nat. Those were only among the many though. He decided to check Natasha’s first.

_[8:06 P.M] Black Widow: Text if you’re still with us_

_[8:27 P.M] Tony: dont worry nat_

_[8:27 P.M] Tony: i survived_

_[8:30 P.M] Black Widow: See, it wasn’t so bad, was it?_

_[8:31 P.M] Tony: it wasn’t all that, its not something i want to come to after school every day_

_[8:31 P.M] Tony: honestly, im just dreading tomorrow_

Quentin’s words once again were in the forefront of his mind. That ingratiating fuck really did struck a nerve, to his own admission.

_[8:31 P.M] Tony: maybe i should go for the expelling, there are schools not too far from where you guys live, we can always hang outside of school_

_[8:31 P.M] Tony: fair game, right?_

_[8:32 P.M] Black Widow: Tony, don’t be stupid_

_[8:32 P.M] Tony: why? because i choose to get punished the same way everyone else gets punished?_

_[8:33 P.M] Black Widow: No, because you were given another chance_

_[8:33 P.M] Black Widow: You’re not being noble or heroic by deciding to get expelled_

At that text, Tony hesitated, his fingers hovering over the touchscreen keyboard. Tony never saw it that way, he never considered himself “noble”. Or was the guilt he was carrying actually make that true?

_[8:36 P.M] Black Widow: So basically I’m right because its crickets here_

Tony let out an amused puff of air from his nose, his lips curving into a small smile.

_[8:37 P.M] Tony: jesus nat, you’re not giving me enough time to come up with a good enough response_

_[8:37 P.M] Black Widow: Like I said, you were given a second chance, take advantage of it and just do whatever punishment you were given_

_[8:37 P.M] Black Widow: they gave you more than enough to work with so you don’t need to feel bad_

_[8:38 P.M] Tony: nat, are you saying this cause you’d miss me if i moved schools??? :)))))_

_[8:38 P.M] Black Widow: Go to sleep, Tony._

He nearly cackled; he could practically read the exasperation from her reply.

_[8:38 P.M] Tony: its 8:30!!_

_[8:39 P.M] Black Widow: Well, I’m leaving, homework calls_

_[8:39 P.M] Tony: ok then, goodnight_

_[8:40 P.M] Black Widow: Seriously, don’t do anything stupid to get kicked out_

_[8:40 P.M] Tony: yes ma’am_

With that, Tony decided to call it a day.

Despite his initial protests of not wanting to sleep, he was tired. His screwed-up sleeping schedule easily caught up to him and his bad mood just elevated his exhaustion.

Tomorrow was his second day of the construction project and he’d probably need as much energy as he could muster.


End file.
